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Reexamining Technological Support for Genealogy Research, Collaboration, and Education

Fei Shan, Kurt Luther

TL;DR

The paper investigates how technology supports genealogy research, collaboration, and education at a time of DNA testing and mass digitization, using a qualitative study of 20 genealogists (10 experts, 10 amateurs). Grounded in the Genealogical Proof Standard, it reveals how practitioners conduct exhaustive research, cite and organize sources, analyze and correlate evidence, resolve conflicts, and produce sound conclusions, while highlighting community dynamics and learning processes in online spaces. The findings point to the need for standardization, better information-verification tools, and scalable education, including AI tutoring and learnersourcing, to reduce misinformation and improve research quality. By framing genealogy as a distinctive context for collective sensemaking and information literacy, the study offers design implications for systems that support rigorous, transparent, and collaborative family-history research at scale.

Abstract

Genealogy, the study of family history and lineage, has seen tremendous growth over the past decade, fueled by technological advances such as home DNA testing and mass digitization of historical records. However, HCI research on genealogy practices is nascent, with the most recent major studies predating this transformation. In this paper, we present a qualitative study of the current state of technological support for genealogy research, collaboration, and education. Through semi-structured interviews with 20 genealogists with diverse expertise, we report on current practices, challenges, and success stories around how genealogists conduct research, collaborate, and learn skills. We contrast the experiences of amateurs and experts, describe the emerging importance of standardization and professionalization of the field, and stress the critical role of computer systems in genealogy education. We bridge studies of sensemaking and information literacy through this empirical study on genealogy research practices, and conclude by discussing how genealogy presents a unique perspective through which to study collective sensemaking and education in online communities.

Reexamining Technological Support for Genealogy Research, Collaboration, and Education

TL;DR

The paper investigates how technology supports genealogy research, collaboration, and education at a time of DNA testing and mass digitization, using a qualitative study of 20 genealogists (10 experts, 10 amateurs). Grounded in the Genealogical Proof Standard, it reveals how practitioners conduct exhaustive research, cite and organize sources, analyze and correlate evidence, resolve conflicts, and produce sound conclusions, while highlighting community dynamics and learning processes in online spaces. The findings point to the need for standardization, better information-verification tools, and scalable education, including AI tutoring and learnersourcing, to reduce misinformation and improve research quality. By framing genealogy as a distinctive context for collective sensemaking and information literacy, the study offers design implications for systems that support rigorous, transparent, and collaborative family-history research at scale.

Abstract

Genealogy, the study of family history and lineage, has seen tremendous growth over the past decade, fueled by technological advances such as home DNA testing and mass digitization of historical records. However, HCI research on genealogy practices is nascent, with the most recent major studies predating this transformation. In this paper, we present a qualitative study of the current state of technological support for genealogy research, collaboration, and education. Through semi-structured interviews with 20 genealogists with diverse expertise, we report on current practices, challenges, and success stories around how genealogists conduct research, collaborate, and learn skills. We contrast the experiences of amateurs and experts, describe the emerging importance of standardization and professionalization of the field, and stress the critical role of computer systems in genealogy education. We bridge studies of sensemaking and information literacy through this empirical study on genealogy research practices, and conclude by discussing how genealogy presents a unique perspective through which to study collective sensemaking and education in online communities.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 44 sections, 2 figures, 3 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. The Genealogy Research Process
  4. Sensemaking Challenges and Information Literacy
  5. Learning in Online Communities
  6. Method
  7. Recruitment
  8. Interview Design
  9. Data Collection and Analysis
  10. Findings
  11. GPS Point 1: Reasonably Exhaustive Research
  12. Knowledge of records: what's out there, what information is contained, how to access them
  13. Traversing online and local records
  14. Focusing on a concise question
  15. Strategies for overcoming brick walls
  16. ...and 29 more sections

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: An example of paper-based genealogy research log from familysearchwiki2023log. Note that it contains the name of the ancestor being researched, a research question, and detailed documentation of means, purpose, and result of the search.
  • Figure 2: An example of genealogy timeline from neaves2021simple. It lays out chronological and geographical information of multiple ancestors to help a genealogist to identify research gaps and conflicts.